Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many freight forwarders and customs agents have received demands from HMRC for unpaid import VAT or customs duty in respect of declarations submitted on behalf of importers who were subsequently found to be (a) not genuinely established in the United Kingdom, (b) registered for VAT using a fraudulent or virtual address, or (c) dissolved or struck off at the time of the relevant declaration.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC systems do not record, in a readily extractable format, the number of freight forwarders or customs agents issued demands for unpaid import VAT or duty linked to importers who are not UK established, use fraudulent or virtual VAT registrations, or are dissolved/struck off.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what consideration has been given to adding (a) a company registration number field to the HMRC VAT number checker service and (b) a VAT registration number field to the Companies House public register, so that the two identifiers can be cross-referenced by members of the public, online marketplaces, and customs agents.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Companies House (CH) are committed to preventing fraud and tax evasion by identifying and holding accountable corporate entities that attempt to evade their responsibilities and tax liabilities. The departments have strong relations, further strengthened by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (2023) and have developed a collective Programme of activities to facilitate closer cooperation on company registrations and de-registrations, accounting and filing, and sharing risk intelligence and data.
There are no plans in place to add a Company Number field to the UK VAT Registration checker service, or a VAT Registration Number field to the Companies House online register. However, HMRC and CH will continue to work together to develop and implement further improvements to the way that businesses register as a company and register for corporation tax and VAT to reduce tax evasion and corporate fraud.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many addresses in the United Kingdom are currently registered as the VAT address of 100 or more businesses; and what processes HMRC has in place to verify that such addresses represent legitimate serviced office arrangements rather than address fraud.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As of Tuesday 19 May 2026, there are 165 UK addresses that are currently registered as the VAT address of 100 or more businesses.
HMRC undertakes a range of checks to ensure that business addresses provided for VAT registration purposes are appropriate. As part of the registration process, HMRC assesses the information supplied by the applicant, including the declared address, against the nature of the business and established risk indicators.
Where necessary, HMRC requests further information or supporting evidence before deciding whether to approve a registration.
HMRC also undertakes ongoing, risk‑based compliance activity after registration. Where an address is identified as higher risk, including those associated with large numbers of registrations, further checks may be carried out to ensure it is being used legitimately, including in cases involving serviced office arrangements.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, since January 2021, how many applications for UK VAT registration from companies incorporated in the UK within the previous 24 months have been (a) accepted without a compliance check, (b) accepted following a compliance check, (c) refused, and (d) subsequently cancelled within 12 months of registration.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC introduced a new VAT Registration Service in August 2022. The previous registration service did not include incorporation date data, so figures are only available from August 2022 to 1 January 2026.
The figures below relate to UK VAT registration applications from companies incorporated in the UK within the previous 24 months.
Outcome | Approximate number |
Automatically accepted | 328,000 |
Accepted after review | 158,200 |
Refused (for any reason) | 88,300 |
Subsequently deregistered within 12 months | 75,800 |
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the answer of 29 April 2026 to question 129483, what (a) the declared trade value of goods imported under BIRDs declarations across all procedure codes and both CDS and CHIEF, (b) HMRC's estimate of the VAT that should have been collected on those sales and (c) the VAT remitted to HMRC by sellers and online marketplaces for those imports was in each year between 2022 and 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
(a) The trade value and number of declarations from the Bulk Import Reduced Data Set (BIRDS) under the Customs Declaration Service and Low-Value Bulking of Imports (LVBI) under the legacy CHIEF system are in the following table:
Year | LVBI Trade value (£bn) | LVBI Declarations | BIRDS Trade Value (£bn) | BIRDS Declarations | Total Trade Value (£bn) | Total Declarations |
2022 | 0.002 | 164,000 | 0.4 | 58,000 | 0.4 | 222,000 |
2023 | neg | 1,000 | 3.3 | 271,000 | 3.3 | 273,000 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 5.5 | 359,000 | 5.5 | 359,000 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 7.8 | 394,000 | 7.8 | 394,000 |
Data notes:
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(b) and (c) HMRC does not have an estimate or hold specific data on the total VAT chargeable or remitted in respect of imported goods declared under BIRDS. Different rates of VAT may apply to items declared under BIRDS, with some benefiting from relief from VAT. This information is not recorded within BIRDS declaration data.
HMRC does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific goods or services, including goods imported through BIRDS. This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a transaction level on their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how HMRC reconciles BIRDs import declaration data with (a) online marketplace order data, (b) VAT returns submitted by sellers and marketplaces and (c) the Customs Declaration Service consignee and importer data for the purpose of identifying VAT evasion.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The purpose of BIRDS is to allow operators to comply with customs requirements. There is a separate VAT regime.
Given the scope of the data, HMRC does not typically reconcile BIRDS declaration data with data from online marketplaces, VAT return data or Customs Declaration Service data. HMRC actively monitors compliance with UK tax and customs obligations and uses a range of tools, including risk-based audits and data analytics, to tackle non-compliance.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the answer of 29 April 2026 to question 129483, how many (a) individual consignments and parcels were covered by BIRDs declarations under CPC 0020 21V submitted via the Customs Declaration Service and (b) declarations were submitted via the legacy CHIEF system in each year between 2022 and 2025.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The information requested is not available. BIRDs declarations submitted under CPC 0020 21V and declarations submitted via the legacy CHIEF system are aggregated, with a single declaration covering multiple consignments or parcels using a reduced dataset. As a result, the number of individual consignments or parcels is not recorded directly.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many BIRDs declarations submitted in each year between 2022 and 2025 were associated with (a) UK-incorporated companies that had been registered at Companies House for fewer than 24 months at the time of submission and (b) companies that have since been (i) dissolved, (ii) struck off and (iii) filed dormant accounts.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many UK VAT registration numbers have been identified as having been used in customs declarations submitted under PVA (Postponed VAT Accounting) after the registration was cancelled, and what steps HMRC took to notify customs agents and freight forwarders when such cancellations occurred.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not hold information on de-registered VRNs being used in customs declarations. Since June 2025 it has not been possible for entities who have cancelled their VAT registration to continue to use that registration number (VRN) to use Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA). Customs agents and freight forwarders who try to use a deregistered VRN to notify PVA would have those declarations rejected. Intermediaries are expected to complete due diligence using Check a UK VAT number - GOV.UK to confirm the status of a VRN before using it to notify PVA on a customs declaration.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion Preseli)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance HMRC has issued to freight forwarders and customs agents on the steps they should take to verify the genuine UK establishment status of importers before submitting indirect customs declarations; and whether HMRC has provided any tool enabling agents to make such verification in real time at the point of submission.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC has published GOV.UK guidance which allows businesses to check if they meet the criteria for UK establishment for customs purposes: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-established-in-the-uk-or-eu-for-customs.
This guidance is intended to support the practical application of the legal establishment criteria and enables businesses, including customs agents, to assess whether the traders they represent meet the criteria for UK establishment under UK customs law.